III. HOW A YEAR.

[paragraph continues] ISIS, i. e. a woman. By the same symbol they also represent the goddess. Now Isis is with them a star, called in Egyptian, Sothis, but in Greek Astrocyon, [the Dog' star]; which seems also to preside over the other stars, inasmuch as it sometimes rises greater, and at other times less; sometimes brighter, and at other times not so; and moreover, because according to the rising of this star we shew all the events of the ensuing year: 1 therefore not without reason do they call the year Isis. When they would represent the year otherwise, they delineate a PALM TREE 2 [BRANCH], because of all others this tree alone at each renovation of the

Footnotes

9:2 Qy. A palm branch, Sharpe, 636. Clemens Alex. describing a procession, states that the Horoscopus carries a φοίνικα, which evidently must imply a palm branch. See passage of Clemens in the Appendix.